Eligibility

Any CWU faculty member who is employed on a full-time, continuing academic year appointment at the rank of assistant professor or higher may apply for financial assistance. The faculty member may be (a) on professional leave during the grant award period; or (b) on leave of absence with the time counting toward seniority. The maximum level of support for any project is $2000. It is expected that the faculty member shall remain at the University for one academic year following completion of the SEED project.

Areas of Support

1. Basic and applied projects in all disciplines, including scholarly and artistic projects.
2. Assistance in collecting and analyzing data.
3. Assistance in preparing manuscripts and artistic projects, excluding publication subsidy.
4. Services, supplies, materials, and equipment to start a project or supplement other research support to complete a project.
5. Student and other research assistance.

Areas Not Supported

1. Institutional research (e.g., internal or departmental studies).
2. Travel to professional meetings.
3. Projects related to satisfaction of degree requirements.
4. Course Development.
5. Page charges or other costs related to publication.
6. Faculty salaries, fees or other types of monetary compensation are not allowed.

All items (equipment, books, and supplies) purchased by the Faculty Research funds become the property of the University. All equipment purchased must be placed on inventory and receive a CWU account number according to regular University procedures before it can be used on a project. The disposition of equipment, after the completion of the project, is negotiated by the project director, the Department Chair and the School/College Dean.

Review and Evaluation of Applications

The application must be approved by the Department Chair and the appropriate College Dean before submission to the Faculty Development & Research Committee (FDRC).

Each member of the Committee will receive a copy of the submitted application for purposes of review and recommendation. Evaluation of applications will take into account the following criteria: 1) abstract clarity (5 points), 2) project description clarity and scholarship (20 points), 2a) merit (20 points), and 2b) impact (20 points), 3) Action Plan/Methods (20 points), 4) Extramural Potential (5 points), 5) References cited (10 points) and 6) Budget Justification. Item 6) will be judged as acceptable or unacceptable. Additionally, special consideration will be made for submissions by applicants who have not received FDRC funding (CWU Research Appointments, Seed Grants) in the past five years. (See the application form for a description of the criteria.) NB: Attachments are not allowable and will result in disqualification. Recommendations on proposals are made by a vote of the Committee. The FDRC Chair (Director of University Research) does not vote except to break ties.

The following are among the actions the Committee may take: 1) Not to fund; 2) Request for further information or clarification; 3) Partially fund; 4) Fund contingent on availability of moneys; 5) Fund in full.

All comments by the Chair and Dean and discussions of the applications are considered confidential. The text and approved budget of funded proposals are available to the public.

Expenditures

Contact the Graduate Office for information on accessing project funds.

Deadlines

Deadlines for submitting applications to the Faculty Development & Research Committee for review and recommendation will be October 15, January 15, and March 15 of each academic year. In the event one of these dates falls on a weekend or holiday, the due date will be the next business day. Applications must be delivered to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research before 5:00 p.m. on the deadline date; those received after the deadline will not be considered until the next scheduled review session. Applications must be complete at time of submission, including signed approvals by the Department Chair and College Dean. The Committee will review the proposals and notification to applicants will generally occur within one month following each announced deadline date.

Reports

The project director must submit to the Committee: 1) any required progress reports, 2) a final report which summarizes the project and lists of any publications, exhibitions, and external grants which resulted from the award, and 3) a final project budget statement. The final report is due three months after completion of the project or the end of the current biennium, whichever occurs first. Failure to submit a final report will be grounds for denying future support. The report may be taken into consideration when decisions are made on future funding.

Sample Successful Proposal

To view the Sample successful SEED grant click one of the the following links: (MS Word) (PDF).

Common Feedback Examples

To view the Common Feedback Examples click one of the following links: (MS Word) (PDF).

Instructions for Preparing the Application

Instructions are provided along with the Seed Grants Competition application form. (MS Word) (PDF)